


alone

by reedpayne



Series: (baby you're) not alone [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Canon Compliant, Canonical Child Abuse, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Leonard Snart Centric, Lewis Snart's A+ Parenting, Little bit of comfort, M/M, coldatom, gotta love the pain, i hate lewis snart, lots of pain, mostly gen with a smidge of fluffy coldatom, this hurt me a lot to write
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-03 15:18:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10969956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reedpayne/pseuds/reedpayne
Summary: Leo Snart is six years old, and he is alone.Or, five times Leonard Snart is alone, plus one time that he's not.





	alone

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this for day 1 of coldatom week, which is coming up this Sunday, but my brain isn't in a good spot to complete the week. So, in lieu of that, I decided to go ahead and post this fic, which is the only one I actually have completed for the week. The prompt was hurt/comfort!
> 
> Here, have yourselves a lot of hurt, with just a little bit of comfort :)

Leo Snart is six years old, and he is alone.

He doesn’t understand what’s going on. His mother is gone, and his father smells like that awful stuff that makes him angry, and Leo is scared. When Lewis gets angry, he likes to take his anger out on Leo’s mom, but she’s not here, there’s nobody home except the two of them. Leo is in his room, curled up under all of the blankets he could find without going near the living room, but he knows it’s not enough.

He may be only six years old, but he knows.

He tries to stay as quiet as possible, not make a single peep, and he’s been doing good for close to an hour now. It’s not enough.

Through the layer of blankets, Leo can hear heavy footsteps coming down the hallway. He squeaks out a small, terrified noise, clutching tighter to the stuffed white tiger his mother had bought him months before on a trip to the zoo. He knows it can’t protect him, it’s just a small scrap of material stuffed with cotton, but that doesn’t stop him.

He hopes and prays that Lewis walks right past his room, continues onto his own to pass out for the night, but Leo doesn’t have any luck. The thundering footsteps stop just outside his door, and Leo holds his breath, but it’s too late -- his door is crashing open with a loud thud, and Lewis stumbles in, reeking of that awful drink that makes Leo sick to his stomach.

“Boy,” Leo hears Lewis grumble out, his voice nearly a growl. It makes Leo curl up tighter. He hears a few more steps, and then the pile of blankets are being ripped off of him and tossed to the floor. He bites back a whimper, smart enough not to make any noises that might egg his father on, and stares up at him with wide, terrified eyes. “Wha’ the hell do you think you’re doin’?”

“S-Sleeping,” Leo murmurs. He knows better, from watching arguments between his parents, than to not answer. He tears his eyes away from Lewis, stares down at his stuffed tiger instead. “Where’s M-Mommy?”

“ _Where’s Mommy_?” Lewis mocks, his face twisting up in an angry scowl. “That stupid bitch ran off, an’ she left me with you! She didn’t want you no more!”

Leo tries to stop it, but he’s not fast enough, and the tears start slipping down his face. He tries to wipe them off quickly, but Lewis has already noticed, and now he’s laughing as if watching his son cry is the most hysterical thing in the world.

“Can’t say I blame her! What kinda parent would want _you_? You’re a scrawny little piece o’ garbage!” Lewis roars, rearing his arm back.

Leo sees it coming, slams his eyes closed as tight as they’ll go, but that doesn’t stop the blow to his side from hurting like hell. He lets out a cry of pain, but Lewis ignores him, just delivers two more quick punches to Leo’s side and gut before finally stumbling back.

“Your _mommy_ was nothin’ but a punk bitch, and so are you! You ain’t ever gonna be anything else!”

With that last remark, Lewis storms from the room. He slams the door behind him so hard that more than one thing on Leo’s wall come crashing down to the floor. He wants to jump up, make sure none of his things are broken, but he’s in too much pain to move. Every breath hurts, and the tears won’t stop flowing down his cheeks. Instead of dragging himself from the bed, he curls up as tight as he can, his knees against his chest and his face pressed against his stuffed tiger.

Leo Snart is six years old, he’s got his first of many cracked ribs, and he is alone.

* * *

Len Snart is fourteen years old, and he is alone.

Over the years, Lewis’ treatment of him as only grown worse, but Len’s tolerance for pain and humiliation has only grown with it. As Lewis comes up with new ways to torture him, Len learns new ways to survive the torment.

He’s been running jobs with Lewis since the day he turned ten years old, and Lewis deemed him ready. He was small, scrawny from the lack of proper nutrition the past eight years that his mother had been gone, and he was perfect for wiggling into tight spaces to disarm cameras and other such security equipment. He hates it, but he’s good at it, and he doesn’t have much of a choice, not as long as he’s still a minor and Lewis still has custody of him.

So Len goes along with it. He keeps quiet most of the time, dutifully following Lewis’ instructions on various heists, even when he knows they would go wrong. And boy, do they go wrong often -- Lewis has little to no patience, and his temper often threw off any prior planning once they really got into the thick of things. Some times are worse than others.

This time takes the cake. A crew member misses their mark, Lewis, as predicted, blows his top, and, in the rush to leave the premises before the cops arrive, Len gets left behind.

The cops apprehend him fast, mostly due to the fact that Len doesn’t even attempt to run away. He’s in for a bad beating if Lewis ever finds out that particular tidbit, and Len hopes and prays that he never does.

They escort him to a holding cell at CCPD, then precede to ask him a million and one questions, but Len keeps his mouth closed firm, refuses to answer any of them. They want to know who he was working with, where the others went, what they were after, and so much more, but Len prevails in keeping his silence. If he tries to tell them the truth, they won’t believe him. He’s not going to waste his breath trying.

When they finally accept that he isn’t going to talk, they tell him he’s going to spend the next few months in juvie, learning how to be an upstanding citizen instead of a delinquent. He still doesn’t say a thing, because he knew that’s what was going to happen, and he can’t help but feel a little bit of relief. He’ll be away from Lewis. It’s only for a few months, but it’s something.

Len Snart is fourteen years old, he’s going to juvie for the first time, and he is alone.

* * *

Leonard Snart is twenty eight years old, and he is alone.

He stands on the sidewalk outside of his latest safehouse, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, and watches as the cab pulls away from the curb and turns down the nearest street, heading for Starling City.

His baby sister, Lisa, is in the back of that cab, scribbling away at her favorite coloring book with a smile on her face. After saving up from various heists during the times he wasn’t incarcerated over the past ten years, Leonard has finally saved up enough money to send Lisa off to a private boarding school.

Since the moment she was born, just days after his releases from his first stint in juvie, Leonard has been caring nonstop for his sister. He’s made sure she has clothes, food, water, everything essential to life, plus all the toys and other such things she wanted. During the few times he was behind bars, he’s made sure Mick was there to provide for Lisa, because god knows Lewis never did.

He’s still worried, of course he is. The moment Lewis realises that Lisa is gone, he’s going to riot, but Leonard will be there to take the blame, to take all of the kicks and punches instead of his sister. He isn’t going to let Lewis lay a finger on Lisa ever again. He promises himself that, no matter how much pain it may cause him at the hands of Lewis, he will do whatever it takes to allow Lisa to have as normal a life as possible. She will be happy, and she will be loved, and she will never have to deal with Lewis’ anger ever again.

Leonard Snart is twenty eight years old, his fourteen year old sister is finally free of their father’s reach, and he is alone.

* * *

Leonard Snart is forty years old, and he is alone.

Mick Rory has been a constant in his life since he was fourteen years old. His first day in juvie would have been his last day breathing if Mick, sixteen years old and bigger than any other kid there, hadn’t been there to pull him out of the way of some mob brat’s shiv. Leonard owes his life to Mick Rory, several times over.

When they’re both free men, they work jobs together. Leonard does all the careful planning, and Mick is the brute force, the muscle behind every plan. They’re both good at their respective jobs, and they work together in nearly perfect sync.

Heist after heist goes off without a hitch. Together, they bask in the glow of each success, buying each other drinks and generally enjoying one another’s company. They’re partners, they’re practically _brothers_ , and everything is great.

Until it’s not.

It’s another typical heist, some bank on the outskirts of Central City that has subpar security. It was supposed to be simply, an easy in and out with plenty of time to grab the good stuff before the cops were ever even notified that anything was going on, but things don’t turn out that way. There’s a cop car too close, they arrive far too soon, and Mick reacts badly.

Leonard already has their bags as packed as he can get them with the threat of the cops, and he’s running from the exit, Mick following close behind. He’s not entirely sure what happens next, because he’s focusing on getting them out of there, but suddenly he feels a scorching heat against his back, and the entire place is ablaze.

“Snart, run!” He hears Mick holler out behind him, and so he does.

He tries not to think, just keeps running. He runs and runs, through allies and around street corners, until he finally arrives at the van they had previously set up for their escape. He tosses the bags in the back, then slides into the driver’s seat and stops to take deep, heaving breaths.

He waits five minutes, then ten, but Mick still doesn’t show up. At the fifteen minute mark, Leonard knows that Mick has been made, and so, with another deep and shuddering breath, he starts the van and makes his way back to their current safehouse.

Somewhere about halfway back, he turns on the radio, and hears an officer repeating what he already knew: Mick Rory, infamous arsonist and thief, has been captured as is being transported to the hospital for burn treatment before being taken onto prison for who knows how long.

Leonard Snart is forty years old, his partner has just been caught, his sister is who knows where, and he is alone.

* * *

Leonard Snart is forty three years old, and he is alone.

It’s 1985, or at least he thinks it is, he is stuck in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, and his teammates have no idea he’s alive, let alone where -- or rather, when -- in the world he is.

To be honest, Leonard is also more than a little confused as to how exactly he ended up here of all places. The last thing he remembers before waking up in Rio was the Oculus exploding. He remembers giving his life for the team, a bunch of idiot do gooders, and he doesn’t understand how he’s still alive, but he is.

For the most part, he keeps to himself. There’s an old abandoned apartment complex that he’s currently squatting in, and he only ventures into town every few days to steal food and look for any signs of his teammates.

But if there’s one thing Leonard has learned over his forty three years of life, it’s that he has no luck.

So, for some time close to two years, he continues to live his life in Rio. He doesn’t ever talk to anybody, not even himself anymore, just goes about his life. He steals just enough food to survive, occasionally swipes a few wallets just to keep himself fresh, and moves a few times to make sure he’s not being followed. Some of the people he regularly sees in town nod to him now in greeting, but they never try to speak to him, and for that he is grateful.

Leonard Snart is forty five years old, he’s stuck in Rio with no way to get back home, and he is alone.

* * *

Leonard Snart doesn’t really know how old he is anymore, but he does know that he is not alone.

Because, by some miracle, two days short of two full years being stuck in Rio De Janeiro in the 80’s, the Waverider materialises from the sky, and he is finally reunited with his team.

It’s a big affair for everybody. They’ve gone the last six months -- because that’s all it’s been for them, god -- thinking he was dead, and he’s gone the past two years thinking he was going to die in some abandoned building in a country full of strangers.

Sara and Jax insist they throw a party, of course they do, and Leonard finally feels like himself again, dressed in his favorite pair of skinny jeans and a dark sweater with thumb holes, freshly showered and shaved. He’s surrounded by his teammates, his friends, and he’s not afraid to admit that he’s never felt such intense relief before.

When things start getting overwhelming, he slips off to his quarters, which haven’t been touched since the last night he’d slept there, the night before the Oculus explosion. He’s sure he won’t be along for very long, but he’s sort of counting on that.

He’s there for barely five minutes when the doors slid open and the person he missed the most makes his way across the room to sit next to Leonard on the bed.

“I feel like this is a dream, and any moment now I’m gonna wake up, and you’re gonna be dead,” Raymond says quietly. He’s staring down at his hands where they rest in his lap, as if Leonard will disappear the moment he looks at him. “It doesn’t seem real.”

“It is real,” Leonard speaks up. It feels weird to talk again, after saying next to nothing for two straight years, but he’s sure it’ll start feeling normal again soon. “I’m real, Raymond. I’m here.”

Ray nods, then reaches out to take Leonard’s hand in is. He twists their fingers together and squeezes lightly. The corners of his lips turn up into a smile, and Leonard can feel his own doing the same in response.

Leonard Snart doesn’t really know how old he is anymore, but he doesn’t care all that much. He’s back on the Waverider, Raymond is at his side again, and he is not alone.  


**Author's Note:**

> As always, I do hope you enjoyed! You can find me on Tumblr at [scoficld](http://scoficld.tumblr.com/), where I'm happy to answer any questions and take any prompts!


End file.
